Cookies and Memories
by racefh853629
Summary: Response to a challenge from lostladyknight, which includes some Snickers and Yo!Bling.


A/N: I don't own any known entity, including (but not limited to) CSI, the characters, and CBS. Lorelai, Tyler, Haddie, and Jakob are mine. This is a response to a challenge lostladyknight gave me, in which I had to incorporate Sara trapped under the car, a CSI kid who's 10, a gruesome crime scene, a gerbil, latex, and a razor blade. Thus, this was born. So, anything bolded is something that was supposed to be incorporated, and anything italicized is a flashback. Enjoy, and please review.

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Cookies and Memories

Sara busied herself in the kitchen, making cookies on the rainy day. She could hear the grunts and groans **of ten-year-old Lorelai** as she did her chores. "The more you complain, the less of a chance for cookies!" she warned. Nick walked in, shaking his head.

"That actually works with her?" he asked softly, kissing his wife on the lips.

"Well, look at her father." Nick half-chuckled and frowned.

"Yeah. One of these days we're gonna have to tell her about-"

"I know. Don't worry, I'll take care of it." He nodded, kissing her softly again.

"Well, Rick and I are takin' the boys fishin'." She laughed.

"Have fun and take pictures. Especially of you and the boys pushing him in."

"Evil woman."

"You married me." He smiled.

"Yeah, I did. Okay, I'm leavin'." He kissed her again, walking out of the kitchen. Lorelai came into the kitchen a little while after, throwing the duster in the closet.

"Did you finish?" Sara asked the young girl.

"Yes, I did," Lorelai replied. "I found this upstairs. Can we look at it?" She produced a photo album, and Sara smiled.

"Wow, I haven't seen this thing in years. Sure we can, baby." She pulled the last tray of cookies from the oven before grabbing a small plate and the two glasses of milk she had poured. She walked over to the table, and Lorelai followed, sitting beside Sara. Sara flipped the album open, and the first photo to greet her was one of the entire lab from back in the day. The smiling faces of Catherine, Nick, Warrick, Grissom, Greg, herself, Mandy, Archie, and Wendy greeted her, as well as Hodges' arrogant half-smirk on the side of the photo. Above them was a banner, saying 'Welcome Back, Sara!' while a cake sat on the table in front of them.

"I don't recognize half these people," Lorelai remarked. Sara chuckled. "What was this from?"

"This is from a long time ago, about eleven years," Sara explained. "Remember how you asked me what happened to my leg, and I told you the doctor had to remove it?"

"Yeah?"

"Well, you're finally old enough for the story. It was one night.…"

_Flashback:_

_**Sara lay helplessly under the car, trapped by the heavy machine on top of her**. Her fingers clawed endlessly at the mud as rain poured down on her exposed hand. She wasn't quite sure how she got under there, but she knew Natalie had done it. She twisted slightly, feeling the weigh of the car crushing her left leg. Pain coursed through her veins, mixing with her blood into a wicked brew. She bit her lip, keeping her tears at bay as she listened through the pouring rain for any other noise. As the sound of sirens and cars grew, she felt herself breathe a sigh of relief. She was going to get out of there, and everything would be alright._

_End Flashback._

"So, when I finally came back to the lab, they gave me a welcome back party," she finished explaining. Lorelai nodded.

"Who are some of these people?" she asked, pointing to the picture.

"You recognize me and Nick," Sara replied, pointing to everyone as she spoke. "And Catherine, Warrick, and Archie. This is Mandy Webster, the fingerprint tech at the lab at that time, and Wendy Simms was the DNA tech. David Hodges was the arrogant Trace tech."

"Nick's told me about him before."

"Yeah, I figured he would."

"Who are these other two?"

"That's Gil Grissom, and that's Greg Sanders. Gil was the head of CSI at the time, and Greg was a CSI… 1 or 2 at the time, I don't remember now." Lorelai nodded as Sara flipped to the next page. Another picture of them, now minus Grissom, all dressed in black. "This was Grissom's funeral, which was just after you were born. He died on the job, drive-by shooting at a crime scene." Lorelai looked up at Sara to find Sara fondly smiling at the memory of Grissom. "He was an extraordinary man. Intelligent by books, but not so smart when it came to people and relationships. He and I were dating when he was killed." Lorelai nodded, frowning as Sara flipped the page to a picture of Sofia. "Remember how I told you Nick and I weren't really your parents?"

"Yeah?"

**"This woman right here is your mother. She was a CSI, then a detective. Sofia Curtis."**

"She's pretty," Lorelai said, gaping at the picture. For the first time in her life, she was seeing her real mother and hearing about all the stuff that Sara and Nick hadn't wanted to tell her.

"Yeah, she was," Sara agreed. "She was an amazing woman with a heart of gold. One of the sweetest. You're a lot like her."

"What happened to her?"

"Well, she had been at the scene with Grissom because the scene had been her sister's house and she had been the one to call it in. She was shot while standing outside talking to one of the other detectives, Captain Brass. You've met him before." Lorelai nodded, smiling.

"Yeah, I like him." Sara smiled.

"Yeah, he's a good guy. Anyway, your mother was shot, and she was about seven months pregnant with you." Sara was glad now that Lorelai already knew where babies came from and pregnancy so that she didn't have to explain it too. "She didn't make it, but they managed to save you." Lorelai nodded as Sara flipped the page to Greg and **Houdini, the lab's gerbil**.

"A gerbil?" Sara chuckled.

"Not just any gerbil. This was Houdini, the CSI gerbil. One of Greg's ideas from when he was a DNA tech, which was before Wendy got there and before he was in the field. He wanted a pet for the lab, so he got a gerbil and kept it in his lab. Except that Houdini here would always break out of his cage, no matter how you secured it. Houdini would always eat just about anything… except evidence. He'd eat Greg's magazines, books, **latex gloves**, masks… anything. He even tried eating a **razor blade** once… but Greg caught him and stopped him. Houdini ended up getting killed when the lab accidentally exploded fifteen years ago." Lorelai frowned.

"That's sad."

"Yeah." They kept looking through the photo album, finally stopping on a picture of Greg holding a little baby with a sad smile plastered on his face. The next page over had a picture of Nick and Sara with the same baby at the christening as Greg stood back and watched.

"Who's that?" Lorelai asked, pointing at the first picture. Sara sighed softly.

"That, my dear, is you and **Greg, your father**. Nick and I are your godparents, but we explained that to you already."

"My father?"

"Yes."

"What happened to him?" Sara sighed.

"He was murdered six years ago. You were four, so you might not really remember him now, but believe me when I tell you he was one of the most amazing men you'd ever meet. You're a lot like him, too. Anyway, that night…"

_Flashback:_

_Flashing lights arrived at the scene. Greg's house. Sara and Nick jumped out as Catherine pulled the car to a stop. Warrick climbed out afterward with Marvin. They were greeted by Brass, who shook his head sadly. "He's gone," he told the team. They went into the house, gaping at the scene._

_**Blood was splayed in every direction. Signs of struggle adorned every inch of the room. And in the middle of it all was Greg, or at least what was left of him, bloodied, bruised, and in pieces. A hand here, a leg there, and the head over by the coffee table**. Catherine felt herself start to cry, as did Warrick. Nick and Marvin went outside, barely making it beyond the tape before they puked at the sight of their colleague like that. Sara left, checking to make sure Lorelai was okay. Finding the four-year-old sleeping in her room, oblivious to the goings on downstairs, Sara cried._

_End Flashback_

Sara hadn't told her the details of how they found Greg and what he looked like, but had explained that the neighbors had called in an argument. Lorelai nodded, sadly looking at the picture of Greg holding her when she was a baby. "Do I have any real family?" she asked Sara, who shook her head softly.

"Your grandparents had died by that point, and your parents were only children," Sara replied. "Nick and I had vowed to take care of you in the event anything ever happened to Greg, so we took you in." Lorelai nodded, still staring at the photo.

"I remember him somewhat." Sara nodded. "I mean, I remember that I didn't always live with you and Nick, and that someone different used to take me to daycare, but that's it."

"Yeah. That was Greg. He loved you more than anything, Lorelai, believe me when I say that." Lorelai nodded.

"You and Nick never let me call you 'Mom' and 'Dad.' Why?"

"Because we were always going to tell you about your parents. Greg had planned that when you were ten, you'd find out the truth about Sofia. When he died four years later, Nick and I vowed to keep that. We decided that when you were ten, we'd tell you about both of your parents, and what amazing people they were." She nodded. "We also decided that once you knew the truth, you could call us whatever you wanted." She nodded again, looking at the photo album and flipping the pages.

"This is your wedding, right?" she asked softly. Sara smiled.

"Yeah," she replied. "You were three, and the most adorable flower girl ever. You were prancing around the bride room, talking about how you were the most important that day. You were so cute."

"Yeah." They continued to look at the pictures before Lorelai spoke again. "My father was murdered?" she asked softly.

"Yes," Sara replied.

"Did you catch the guy?"

"Yes."

"What about the guy who killed my mom?"

"We caught him too, yeah." She fell silent again for a moment.

"How come you don't still catch bad guys?"

"To be honest, dear, I lost the heart after seeing Greg murdered. The guy who killed him was the brother of a guy Greg had accidentally killed to save an innocent man. I decided I couldn't do that anymore. It was just too much. So I became a professor. But Nick's always been the type to face his demons head on, and he knew Greg would've kicked him if he didn't, so he stuck with it. Catherine left, too, because Greg was like a son to her, and she couldn't continue to run our shift after that. Warrick stayed with Nicky, and Catherine teaches at the university with me. But both Catherine and I know that if we ever want it, we have a job waiting for us at the lab."

"But you don't want it."

"Not now, and I don't know if I ever will, but it's nice to have that option." Lorelai nodded, grabbing Sara's hand.

"Is that how Nick got to be a supervisor? Because you guys never told me."

"Yeah. It was in Catherine's departure that Nick became the supervisor, because he had seniority over Warrick. Warrick's his right-hand man, though, so it's like they're both supervisors. They're happy, and that's all Catherine and I really care about." Lorelai nodded again, squeezing Sara's hand.

"Why did no one ever tell me this before?"

"Because we'd have to explain about your father, and Catherine and Warrick thought it'd be best if Nick and I handled that when the time came."

"Why?"

"Because we're your guardians." Lorelai nodded, finishing off the glass of milk in front of her.

"You and Nick are the closest thing to parents I've ever had. I love you guys."

"We love you too, dear, just like we love Tyler, Haddie, and Jakob."

"Even though I'm not yours?"

"Biology says you're not ours, but we've been raising you and taking care of you for six years. You're as much ours as they are." Lorelai smiled, thinking about her six-year-old brother, four-year-old sister, and two-year-old brother. Lorelai kissed Sara on the cheek as Haddie stumbled into the kitchen after her nap. "Hey, Sweets," Sara said, addressing her little girl. The girl reached out to Sara, who scooped her up and kissed her on the temple.

"I'm gonna go upstairs, Mom," Lorelai said, smiling. Sara smiled.

"Okay, hon." Lorelai hugged Sara before walking up stairs, leaving the latter to smile and take care of Haddie at snack time.


End file.
